Saturday, April 14, 2012

Then comes marriage...

We were engaged for six months. Six. LONG. months. Everyone was so supportive and happy for us. occasionally though, we would have the "you're too young to be married, go live your life first!" people. Oh how I wished I could have said what I really thought to them but most of the time they were my customers at work so I had to keep my lips sealed.

I won't lie to you. I was scared out of my mind. As the days got closer I slowly but surely started freaking out. 25 days.. little worried. 15 days.. anxious. 7 days.. WHAT WAS I DOING? The day before the wedding.. I think i'm going to run away. 30 minutes before the 'I do'.. mini panic attack. But I went through with it, because once I saw Daniel at the end of the isle I knew it was right. I may have been tripping over my dress and I may have been already tearing up, but I knew in that moment there was no where else I would want to be than right next to him. That very same haughty, arrogant, so overly confident man I used to be annoyed with was going to be mine forever and I had no regrets.

Friday, April 13, 2012

First comes love..

April 4, 2009 I was sitting in the back of my chemistry class scrolling through endless status updates on facebook oblivious to the world around me. When a red number 1 popped up in my friend request box. Like any curious teenager would, I clicked it immediately. A drop down box opened up and the name Daniel Coronado appeared. The picture displayed by his name was a young marine in uniform standing by a white Mustang.

We started talking after I sent him a message asking him if I knew him. I had recently been getting a bunch of messages from old friends asking if I remembered them, so naturally I thought I might have known him and didn't remember. He assured me we hadn't met but he would like to get to know me. He said he just got out of boot camp and was currently in California in MOS training for a year and was new to the whole Facebook thing. He asked and I reluctantly gave him my number.

He was haughty, arrogant and overly confident he could get any girl he so pleased. This of course annoyed me. I saw NO possible future with the guy but I enjoyed talking to someone who seemed equally interested in me. He would recap nearly every incident that had occurred within the 24 hours he was on shift and add an "lol" to about every sentence. He told me about all the pranks they played on each other and how he would get in fights daily (real winner I'll tell ya). I would find something sarcastic to say and he would claim that I was "something else".

Several days passed and we had talked every day. I got the hint that he liked me but like I mentioned earlier, saw NO future with him. He eventually asked if I would go out with him and I didn't hesitate to say no. I explained I had no interest in having a long distance relationship and he just wasn't my type. This didn't stop him. We continued to talk over text and every night over the phone for several months. He promised as soon as he was done in California he would drive straight to my house. I said he was lying and wouldn't actually do it.

Photo taken on my computer while on the phone with Daniel (Stupid things teenagers take pictures of).

October 23, 2010 I had called my family together for a BBQ at my house and told them Daniel was coming and I wanted them all to meet him. I figured if I could scare him off by inviting my whole family to meet him it would show his real motives and he would tuck tail and run. I was wrong. Much to my surprise he welcomed the idea and said he would love to meet them all. We talked, we laughed (ok I mostly laughed at him) and we said goodnight. My parents invited him to stay at our house in my room and I would take up a sleeping bag on the floor in theirs. The next day was church.

October 24, 2010 I thought FOR SURE if my family didn't scare him off my strong non-denominational church would. If that didn't scare him, the fact that my dad was the pastor would surely run him off. All my scare tactics were in place and I was ready to see his reaction. He loved it. His church in his hometown was very similar and he felt at home here.

The very same day he asked my dad if he could date me.

Days, weeks, months went by. Daniel traveled from his base in Waco 3 hours one way every other weekend to see me. About 8 months later he moved to Austin to be closer to me. I had planned to move up there in a month with my best friend after graduation and go to a Cosmetology school. Needless to say it just didn't work out and I stayed living with my mom and dad.

September 24, 2011 My parents had just finished building a brand new home and Daniel had been coming more frequently. Every day he had off he would drive down and stay for the night. It was a Saturday and I had to work the first half of the day so Daniel went to my brother's house and hung out for a while. I got a call up at work and Daniel said he was going to help My brother move his in-laws' (an hour away) furniture up to their new apartment. I was so upset I was almost off and wanted to spend time with him on his only day off that week. He kept apologizing and saying he needed to help them.

I went home and vented to my mom about how rude it was to just go off and spend the rest of the day away from me on his only day off that week. They eventually got home and Daniel apologized profusely about being gone so long. I asked him to help me finish unpacking my room from the move so we could at least spend SOME time together. He agreed.

We were fighting about him being gone and unpacking all my stuff when he asked me to help him unpack my nail polish. I found this to be pointless and told him to just put it in the dresser. He kept insisting on my help and I finally gave in. He handed me the bag and I opened it to start unpacking it. There in the bottom of the bag amidst all the bottles of colored polish was a hard grey box with the name "Zales" on the top. I instantly grabbed it out of the bag and asked what this was about. He took the box and got on one knee. I knew exactly where this was going. "Becky will you marry me?"